Swift 3 SF314-59: looking for a USB-C or Thunderbolt hub (or dock) to support 2xHDMI
Tinkerer
I have a SF314-59. I want to use a USB-C or Thunderbolt hub, to drive two external monitors (which can use HDMI or DP). I don't need gaming-level video performance.
I have tried several USB-C hubs, most recently an Anker 553 which has two HDMI ports but I cannot get any HDMI signal on either port. The laptop (Windows 11) does not detect either of the HDMI monitors at all. Other ports on the hub work correctly so I think I have a good USB-C connection to it.
The manual for this laptop shows the following
From reading posts in this forum, I think my problem may be that the SF314-59 does not support Display Port Alt Mode. Other posters have suggested that I therefore need a hub (or dock) which has its own display hardware built in; also that I may need graphics drivers.
My question is what brands/models of hub or dock would meet my requirements. If anyone has done this with a similar laptop, what are you using?
Answers
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Hi, this is a good hub ($70), make sure to get a thick 5Amp USB-C cable if not included. Amazon.com: Thunderbolt 4 Hub, WAVLINK Thunderbolt 4 Dock with Dual 4K@60Hz Display, 100w Power Delivery, USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, for MacBook Pro/Air M1 M2 M3, Thunderbolt 4/3 Laptop : Electronics
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Thanks, I am checking that WAVLINK model out. A question though:
- I'm concerned by the statement on the Amazon page "make sure the type-c port of the host support video (dp alt mode) or the adapter could not work". As far as I can tell from the SF314-59 specs I posted above, DP alt mode is not supported by my laptop (at least it doesn't mention it so I have to assume that).
Has anyone used this with Acer SF314-59? I know there must be a way for this to work because I have an older DELL WD15 dock that does the job (but it's beginning to have reliability problems so I want to replace it).
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Hi, you are correct, the SF314-59 does not support DP Alt mode video out so you need an USB3.0 active graphics adapter like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-DisplayLink-Graphics-Outputs-Compatible/dp/B094G5JLNC?th=1 that does the same job except you won't have DP ports out. Note that you need to download the driver.1 -
As shown above. the TBT port does support DP Alt Mode:
And with the onboard HDMI port, you can run two monitors. A dock that provides more than the one signal that the TBT port gives does require an active video output, so is a lot more expensive than the simple ones that just convert the USB-C to a HDMI or DP video stream.
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